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Trading away the dance-pop trifles of their hits for a faceless stylistic shuffle, the duo seems to be tiring of itself, too. We’re going to be stuck with the Chainsmokers forever. Though the unctuous duo of Drew Taggart and Alex Pall are probably not destined for decades of unqualified success, their insipid spin on EDM’s big-money boom has become as much an eye-rollingly omnipresent part of our national fabric as “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Most living humans in the Western world have likely had the unfortunate sensation of having a Chainsmokers hit stuck in their head, as gross as gum on a hot bus seat; after all, their Coldplay collaboration, “Something Just Like This,” seems made only to ooze from department-store speakers for eternity. There’s even a goddamn feature-length film based on the M83-aping “Paris” in development. Like so many modern American atrocities, the Chainsmokers are just something we’re going to have to endure.

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PureVPN Review

A host of useful features and a one-click interface with Netflix US access put this high on the list of choices for the home user, despite the Hong Kong HQ.

Should I Buy The PureVPN?

A fast, reliable VPN for home streamers, file sharers and those wishing to use VoIP, but being based in Hong Kong will set alarm bells ringing for those looking for untraceable online anonymity.

Price When Reviewed

From $2.95 per month

Billed as the world's fastest VPN (virtual private network), PureVPN promises to be a good option for anyone who wants to use a VPN to stream region-locked video, or wants online anonymity and security without sacrificing speed.

Being based in Hong Kong, PureVPN is outside the '14 eyes' group of countries that share user browsing data (find out more about that in our main Best VPN guide), but its association with China brings its own worries.

On the flipside, there are more than 750 servers on the PureVPN network in 141 countries. The company says the network is self-managed rather than cloud-based. Logging is restricted to the time at which connections are made, and nothing else.

Installation is as easy as any other Windows program. The main interface features several broad modes of use, similar to CyberGhost VPN.

Internet Freedom mode allows people to make calls in countries where VoIP is frowned upon.

If you select Stream, a long list of unlockable services pops up (including Netflix), or you can enter a search term. The Android version also lists Netflix US as an unlockable service.

Along with the usual kill switch to drop the internet connection should the VPN tunnel collapse unexpectedly, there are one or two cool features. For starters, there's an option to launch your default browser once a VPN connection is established.

Another feature is split tunnelling. You can set which apps use the VPN and leave all others to use your normal, uncloaked connection.

That way, if you live somewhere in which ISPs are monitored for VPN use, your VPN-tunnelled traffic can hide amongst the unencrypted stuff using the special 'Stealth Protocol'. As with a similar facility in IPVanish, the idea is to disguise VPN packets as HTTPS traffic.

The interface isn't resizable on the Windows or Mac version, so the global server map is a pain to navigate. Individual servers are hidden, so there's only one clickable blob per country, meaning you also don’t get a choice of, say, east coast or west coast USA.

We also had trouble running PureVPN on an older operating system, and the solution (albiet very speedily replied) was to use a very old and clunky version of the client. Other VPNs we've tried work well on older systems so this was quite disappointing.

At $9.95 (£7.15) per month for 5 simultaneous users, Netflix US access makes PureVPN great value for the home user. The three-year deal, a special offer for Tech Advisor readers, works out at just $1.95 (£1.40) per month. The refund policy is strictly 7 days, but you must use less than 3GB of bandwidth or have made fewer than 100 connections.

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